Moroccan who admitted killing two in Finland knife attack was refused asylum

[webfact]

Moroccan who admitted killing two in Finland knife attack was refused asylum

By Jussi Rosendahl and Lefteris Karagiannopoulos

 

The 18-year-old Moroccan Ilyas Berrouh, covers his face during the initial remand hearing of suspects of killing two people and attempting to kill eight others with terrorist intent (with reasonable doubt) in Turku last week, at the Southwest Finland District Court in Turku, Finland, August 22, 2017. LEHTIKUVA / Martti Kainulainen via REUTERS

 

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A teenage Moroccan asylum seeker who admitted on Tuesday that he had killed two women and injured eight other people in a knife attack in the Finnish town of Turku had had his application for asylum rejected before the attack, authorities said.

 

But though he confessed to the killings in a closed-door court hearing, 18-year-old Abderrahman Mechkah did not admit any terrorist motive, lawyer Kaarle Gummerus said.

 

"(My client) admits manslaughter and injuries ... But what the investigator has brought up this far may not be enough to classify this as a terrorist crime," Gummerus told Reuters.

 

Mechkah, who had been living in a Red Cross immigrant reception centre in Turku since coming to Finland in spring 2016, had been appealing against the result of his asylum application at the time of the knife attack last Friday.

 

"He has received the result of his asylum application and he has appealed it. He is still in the (asylum) process," said a spokeswoman from the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation.

 

Though she would not say directly what the initial outcome of his application had been, the spokeswoman's form of words indicated it had not been successful.

 

Applications for asylum of at least two of three other suspects who had been arrested were also being processed, the Red Cross said.

 

The drama of the attack on the main market place of the coastal city with the apparent involvement of asylum-seekers in Finland's first suspected terrorism related incident has led to a rethink by the government to tighten up asylum procedure.

 

Mechkah appeared in court via video link from hospital. He was shot in the leg by police following the stabbings in the main market place in Turku, on Finland's southwest coast, 160 km (100 miles) from Helsinki. He covered his head with a blanket.

 

The court ordered Mechkah, who has yet to be charged with any offence, and three other Moroccan men to be detained in prison pending trial.

 

A fifth Moroccan, who had been under arrest since Friday, was released, the court said.

 

Investigators have not made clear what role the three other Moroccans, who deny involvement in the attack, are suspected of playing.

 

One of them, 18-year old Ilyas Berrouh, was refused a residence permit in Sweden twice in 2013, authorities said. He was also refused when he made a third application under an alias, a Swedish migration official told Reuters.

 

IMMIGRATION POLICY

 

Police have issued an international arrest warrant for a fifth Moroccan national. Europol said it was assisting in the investigation.

 

Gummerus, the lawyer, said the investigation was still at an early stage and it was impossible to "take a final stance at the moment" on the issue of whether the stabbings were terrorism-related.

 

Mechkah arrived in Germany in 2015 but had not made any application for asylum there.

 

News agency DPA reported he had used several false identities in the country and left without nofitying authorities. On one occasion he was charged with causing bodily harm, the agency added.

 

DPA also reported that at least two of the other suspects had been in Germany. One had five false identities, while an arrest warrant had been issued for another, who was suspected of carrying out theft in Hamburg, it said.

 

People who knew Mechkah told Reuters he looked depressed and angry. Police had said he had clearly targeted women in the Aug. 18 attack.

 

Politicians meanwhile signalled that Finland, a Nordic country boasting one of the lowest levels of crime, should change its immigration-related policies.

 

Finance minister Petteri Orpo said the government should consider establishing better-controlled "return centres" in order to monitor more closely those who had been denied asylum.

 

"For some, it is a critical situation when they get a negative decision. It may increase risks, and this has to be assessed now," Orpo told Verkkouutiset news site.

 

Prime Minister Juha Sipila called on Monday for political unity to fast-track already planned legislation giving authorities new powers to monitor citizens online.

 

In 2016, 155 Moroccans applied for asylum in Finland. Only 20 were granted.

 

(Additional reporting by Tuomas Forsell in Helsinki and Thomas Escritt in Berlin,; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-23

 

[FreddieRoyle]

We are told time and time again that jihadsts are attacking us because we invaded their country. I heard it so many times, I just accept this to be fact. But, can somebody clarify when in recent history Finland invaded Morocco? And more to the point, if Finland did not invade Morocco, then can we have a new explanation for all these jihad attacks please.

[Damrongsak]

Abderrahman Mechkah , you killed two and injured eight.  What did they ever do to you?  Give you a refuge and a chance?  They might have done more for you than against you, by not opposing people like you from coming into the country. Like a rabid dog, you bite the hand that feeds you.  YOU are the infidel.

[Thechook]

Well he gets to stay now

[Damrongsak]

1 minute ago, Thechook said:

Well he gets to stay now

Yep. Three meals a day and a cot to sleep on.  Might be the motive.

[FreddieRoyle]

1 minute ago, Thechook said:

Well he gets to stay now

And seeing as he is now a legal resident of Finland, his extended family overseas will likely be granted visas to also reside in Finland to be near their boy. Can anybody clarify family rights to reside in cases of this type?

[Damrongsak]

Can't help with Finland.  I know it took 10 years to get my wife's married brother's family and her sister's family here to the USA from Thailand 6 years ago (legally). Nowadays, I'd get them tickets to Mexico City, drive them up near the border and let them walk.  And they could walk from frikkin Texas all the way to our place in Virginia! 

[RichardColeman]

Refused asylum seekers need to be locked up to wait departure. There are far too many cases if them going in the run or committing acts of crime. Does this effect HUman rights ? Probably. But if it is made clear on application this will happen I see no problems.

[Dave67]

"People who knew Mechkah told Reuters he looked depressed and angry"

 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah tough shit you murdering scum

[nausea]

Moroccan refugee, yeah right; wonder which box he ticked on the form -  openly gay, Sahrawi pro- independence activist, proselytising Christian, human rights activist? And what the heck is a Moroccan doing in Finland? France or Spain I could understand, at least there might be some language even cultural affinity, but Finland? 

[geriatrickid]

Finland may wish to reconsider some of its social and foreign policy positions.

[KKr]

those that refused the Asylum were right.   People like this psychotic person instigate hate, and lessen or even ruin the chance for legitimate refugees to build a better future.

[simple1]

3 hours ago, nausea said:

Moroccan refugee, yeah right; wonder which box he ticked on the form -  openly gay, Sahrawi pro- independence activist, proselytising Christian, human rights activist? And what the heck is a Moroccan doing in Finland? France or Spain I could understand, at least there might be some language even cultural affinity, but Finland? 

From the OP could well be in an organised street crime group - plenty being trafficked around EU

[sweatalot]

3 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

Finland may wish to reconsider some of its social and foreign policy positions.

So might other European countries as well

[Saradoc1972]

4 hours ago, simple1 said:

From the OP could well be in an organised street crime group - plenty being trafficked around EU

That sounds very likely. Morocco is actually a fairly rich state, at it least it could be, with the largest reserves of phosphate worldwide, but it's all lost to nepotism and clan-structures. And there is no social net and nothing, certainly education is not up to scratch or universally available, goes and in hand.

 

So you get 10-y-o that got put on the streets because their parents can't rake in the money to feed them, they end in a life of drugs, violence, and petty crimes. And then there is networks to smuggle those kids to Europe to do "business" thereabout. For a fee of course, a big loan, to be paid back from the proceeds of petty crime and robbery.

Crime, which might be theft, drug peddling and robbery (i.e. not just trying to steal that wallet or phone, but actually beating someone down with a gang of two or three, if the thieving part fails) are much more attractive in Finland or Germany than at home, where the whole neighbourhood will raise a hue and cry, beat them to a pulp and drag them to the police. Europeans don't have large families or neighbourhoods or know how to use violence in every days life. And prison in Europe is the best those kids will have had in their lives, dreary as it might be to our minds, prison in the Levante certainly is not. Less risk, more profit, a match made in heaven.

 

So our guy probably had his contacts up north and went there. At least from Germany I know the modus operandi is entering somehow, secret or not, and living on the streets as long as they can, maybe breaking into trailer parks or garages, lying about their age, and only applying for the far-famed asylum when apprehended, because that way they get assigned a place in a shelter and will not end up in pre-trial detention because now they are considered to have a fixed abode and can get on with business for a while.

 

Swell system, ain't it? And on top, there are no systems in place keeping them from getting even a dozen and more identities they can burn through over the years, neither in Europe, nor even inside e.g. Germany itself. So before it is prison, after a good long while, finally, it's then off to the next country.

 

There was an article in a major German newspaper about those people 2 years ago, I'll share the link here, but it's German: Am Ende der Welt

 

And, apparently, before it's all over after a good couple of years, some of them then opt for Jihad. Nicely done, Merkel.

[bumpkin]

When illegal immigrants are refused asylum,  why are they not repatriated immediately or held in secure premises until such is possible ?     

 

 

 

[manarak]

4 hours ago, bumpkin said:

When illegal immigrants are refused asylum,  why are they not repatriated immediately or held in secure premises until such is possible ?     

 

no, that would be unfair and inhuman.

they must first be given a fair chance to kill westerners.

[Scott]

5 hours ago, bumpkin said:

When illegal immigrants are refused asylum,  why are they not repatriated immediately or held in secure premises until such is possible ?   

The legal system allows someone to apply for asylum in many countries.   You are 'not guilty' of any crime, including entering the country, until the claim is denied.   The process is a legal one and most people are allowed to be free until it is concluded.   Upon denial, a person can appeal and even if they don't, most aren't considered to be enough of a threat to warrant incarceration.  

 

Even in the US, most of the people currently being deported are not in jail.   They are free until the actual time of deportation if there is no other crime other than illegal entry involved.  

 

Like most things that involve humans, most of the time there is no serious problem, but some times there is.  

[Saradoc1972]

39 minutes ago, Scott said:

The legal system allows someone to apply for asylum in many countries.   You are 'not guilty' of any crime, including entering the country, until the claim is denied.   The process is a legal one and most people are allowed to be free until it is concluded.   Upon denial, a person can appeal and even if they don't, most aren't considered to be enough of a threat to warrant incarceration.  

 

Even in the US, most of the people currently being deported are not in jail.   They are free until the actual time of deportation if there is no other crime other than illegal entry involved.  

 

Like most things that involve humans, most of the time there is no serious problem, but some times there is.  

Yup. And legal framework in the EU stipulates a person must be given the opportunity to leave a country voluntarily. Which is more cost effective if a person is not a problem of the kind we see here. And does work with some people, especially from the Balkans, but those are more or less the low hanging fruits as their government are heavily dependent on the EU and don't resist their repatriations. Most people from there will as a matter of fact leave voluntarily to not get banned from entering the EU for five years flat and after that only if they pay their former repatriation bill.

 

Obviously does not work with people of the category I have described in my prior post. We got Moroccans in Germany flatly posting on youtube we could deport them as many times as we like, they'd be back within 10 days. And I read newspaper reports of one guy they deported 7 times in a row, and another 10 times in a row like that, apparently Frankfurt is a hotpot for that, does not matter to them. And there was one Turkish guy deported after years in jail for rape, narcotics and GBH, presently on his third round, he just keeps coming back.

[Scott]

4 minutes ago, Saradoc1972 said:

Yup. And legal framework in the EU stipulates a person must be given the opportunity to leave a country voluntarily. Which is more cost effective if a person is not a problem of the kind we see here. And does work with some people, especially from the Balkans, but those are more or less the low hanging fruits as their government are heavily dependent on the EU and don't resist their repatriations. Most people from there will as a matter of fact leave voluntarily to not get banned from entering the EU for five years flat and after that only if they pay their former repatriation bill.

 

Obviously does not work with people of the category I have described in my prior post. We got Moroccans in Germany flatly posting on youtube we could deport them as many times as we like, they'd be back within 10 days. And I read newspaper reports of one guy they deported 7 times in a row, and another 10 times in a row like that, apparently Frankfurt is a hotpot for that, does not matter to them. And there was one Turkish guy deported after years in jail for rape, narcotics and GBH, presently on his third round, he just keeps coming back.

And that will always be a problem with a small minority of people.   The same is true of petty criminals, they tend to be repeat offenders.  

 

[simple1]

2 hours ago, Scott said:

And that will always be a problem with a small minority of people.   The same is true of petty criminals, they tend to be repeat offenders.  

 

Have to ask how those deported can re-enter the country within a matter of days. I assume they can afford to buy good quality false passports which are not identified at immigration or insufficient technology to permit face recognition / tracking names changes on the passport in the issuing / entry country. Must be quick bureaucratic processes.

[Scott]

I am tending to think more in terms of two types of situations, first, those that have easy geographical access to the country (For example the Mexico/US border) and those who have criminal connections in the country.  

 

I don't think these people have the means to get false documents.   I think generally we are talking about people who sneak back into the country.   They do tend to make the news because it is not a common occurrence.  

 

In the case of the US/Mexico border there are no firm statistics, but near Tucson, AZ, the border patrol reported about 16% of people apprehended had previously been removed from the US.